Kumbh Mela: ‘Facing difficulty to enforce social distancing at ghats,’ says IG

Devotees took a holy dip in the Ganga River at Har Ki Pauri in Haridwar on April 12. Despite rising Covid cases, Haridwar is jam-packed with pilgrims for Kumbh Mela despite rising Covid-19 cases. Kumbh Mela IG Sanjay Gunjyal said, “Around 6.5 lakh people have taken the holy dip so far. We are continuously appealing to people to follow Covid appropriate behaviour. But due to the huge crowd, it is practically not possible to issue challans today. It is very difficult to ensure social distancing at ghats. A stampede-like situation may arise if we would try to enforce social distancing at ghats so we are unable to enforce social distancing here.” Uttarakhand has over 6,000 active cases in the state.